Overview

A diverse and capable teacher workforce benefits all students.

In most any conversation regarding strengthening the teacher workforce, two themes dominate the narrative: increasing teacher quality and diversifying the profession. Both of these are vital to accelerating student learning — yet they are often needlessly viewed as competing aims.

A diverse teacher workforce benefits all students, particularly students of color. It is possible to measure real gains made by Black students who experience even just one Black teacher, in how much they learn and the rate in which they graduate, including from college. These benefits extend beyond those students who have long been disadvantaged by the nation's education system. A more diverse teacher workforce provides an important first lesson for all children: that the world outside their immediate neighborhood is a tapestry of cultures, traditions, and experiences to embrace, not to be feared or mistrusted. Yet the lack of diversity in the teacher workforce remains a persistent challenge.

Though the number of teachers of color has grown substantially, the increase has not kept pace with dramatic changes in the student population

Note: "Of color" includes Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and two or more races. Source: U.S. Department of Education (2019). Digest of Education Statistics. National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD).

While the benefits to a more diverse teaching profession are remarkable, the new research does not provide support for policy changes that overlook the academic qualifications of teaching prospects. Indeed there is a substantial body of research finding that the academic aptitude of a teacher, measured in many different ways, predicts future teacher effectiveness.

Around the world, top-performing school systems have embraced the important role a teacher's academic aptitude plays by restricting program enrollment to the top-third of the college-going population—an effort most teacher preparation programs in the United States have long resisted.

Around the world, top-performing school systems have restricted program enrollment to the top-third of the college-going population.

Unfortunately, diversity and academic aptitude, both important, are often seen as conflicting goals. In contrast to that line of thought, a 2017 report from the Center for American Progress found states that increased admissions standards to teacher preparation programs saw increased diversity of undergraduate education majors. Beyond expanding diversity, greater selectivity helps raise the status of the teaching profession, supports the push for higher salaries, and, most importantly, provides students with access to the highest quality teachers.

Research shows an increase in admissions standards for teacher preparation programs was consistent with an increase in the racial diversity of undergraduate education majors.

In a unique undertaking, this study examines this important intersection between programs' admissions standards with their goals to achieve greater diversity and highlights programs that have successfully achieved both.

2021 National Findings

Program Diversity

To assess whether teacher preparation programs are meeting the urgent need to diversify the profession, we compared the diversity of their enrollment to the diversity of the current state teacher workforce (reported by the Institute for Education Sciences) as well as the local community in which the programs reside (reported by the Census Bureau). Combining the two measures allows for enrollment to be viewed in the context of where each program operates.

It is important to note that this standard uses the word "diversity" only to refer to racial and ethnic diversity. Other measures of diversity in the teacher workforce are also important, but are not the focus of this iteration of the Program Diversity standard. In addition, this evaluation uses the racial and ethnic categories defined by the U.S. Department of Education, the source of the majority of the data used here. For purposes of this evaluation, all individuals who identify themselves in a category other than non-Hispanic white are considered to be persons of color.

The two Program Diversity calculations

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Teacher workforce comparison
Data used:
  • Percentage of teacher candidates of color enrolled in the program
  • Percentage of teachers of color in the state teacher workforce
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Local community comparison
Data used:
  • Percentage of teacher candidates of color enrolled in the program
  • Percentage of persons of color in the local community

It is much easier for programs to exceed the diversity of the state teacher workforce (accomplished by 66% of programs) than it is for them to surpass the diversity of their local community (accomplished by only 22% of programs).

There are 261 programs (21%) earning an "A" because they exceed the diversity of the state teacher workforce, and they match or exceed the diversity of their local community.

Program Diversity grades for elementary teacher preparation programs
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Figures may not add to 100% due to rounding. Due to missing enrollment data or the lack of a local area comparison for statewide non-traditional programs, the grades for 20 programs could not be determined and are reported as CBD and excluded from the percentage calculations. Included here are undergraduate, graduate and non-traditional programs.

With very few exceptions, the greatest percentage of programs earn a C on this standard because they are less diverse than their surrounding communities, which for many is the primary source of students.

Surprisingly, rural teacher preparation programs are more likely to do well on this new diversity standard. Suburban programs are the least likely.

Rural

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34%

City

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24%

Town

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23%

Suburb

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8%

Changing demographics tell a surprising story
Percent of programs in each geographic setting that earn an "A" on the Program Diversity standard

Diversity of teacher prep program enrollment

View or compare program demographics and the comparison measures used under this standard using the tool below.

Diversity of program enrollment
Diversity of state teacher workforce
Diversity of state population
Diversity of local community
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Arizona (Phoenix)

Arizona State University
40%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

New York (Brooklyn)

CUNY - Brooklyn College
67%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

Virginia (Fairfax)

George Mason University
26%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • Suburb
  • Public

Ohio (Akron)

University of Akron
25%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

Nevada (Las Vegas)

University of Nevada - Las Vegas
52%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

Colorado (Greeley)

University of Northern Colorado
26%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

% People of Color

Diversity of program enrollment
Diversity of state teacher workforce
Diversity of state population
Diversity of local community
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New York (Flushing)

CUNY - Queens College
61%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

New Jersey (Union)

Kean University
46%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • Suburb
  • Public

New York (Dobbs Ferry)

Mercy College
52%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • Suburb
  • Private

New York (Rockville Centre)

Molloy College
22%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • Suburb
  • Private

New York (New York City)

New York University
55%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Private

New Jersey (Jersey City)

Saint Peter's University
68%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Private

% People of Color

Diversity of program enrollment
Diversity of state teacher workforce
Diversity of state population
Diversity of local community
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Washington (Ellensburg)

Central Washington University
25%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • Town
  • Public

Iowa (Lamoni)

Graceland University
17%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

More diverse than local community population

  • Rural
  • Private

New York (Houghton)

Houghton College
10%
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Percentage points

Less diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • Rural
  • Private

Kansas (Sterling)

Sterling College
17%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • Rural
  • Private

Maine (Machias)

University of Maine at Machias
9%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • Rural
  • Public

Alabama (Livingston)

University of West Alabama
33%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

Less diverse than local community population

  • Rural
  • Public

% People of Color

Diversity of program enrollment
Diversity of state teacher workforce
Diversity of state population
Diversity of local community
0%
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Texas (Houston)

Houston Independent School District (ISD): Effective Teacher Fellowship (ETF)
59%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • No data
  • Non-traditional

Texas (Huntsville)

Sam Houston State University
38%
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Less diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

Less diverse than local community population

  • Town
  • Public

Texas (Alpine)

Sul Ross State University
83%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

More diverse than local community population

  • Town
  • Public
  • MSI

Texas (Denton)

Texas Woman's University
47%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

Less diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

Texas (Austin)

University of Texas at Austin
48%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

Texas (El Paso)

University of Texas at El Paso
92%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public
  • MSI

% People of Color

Diversity of program enrollment
Diversity of state teacher workforce
Diversity of state population
Diversity of local community
0%
20%
40%
60%
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100%

California (La Mirada)

Biola University
48%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • Suburb
  • Private

California (Carson)

California State University - Dominguez Hills
79%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public
  • MSI

California (Long Beach)

California State University - Long Beach
62%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Less diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

California (Los Angeles)

Loyola Marymount University
68%
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Percentage points

More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

Less diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Private

California (Los Angeles)

Mount St. Mary's University
80%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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Percentage points

More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Private
  • MSI

California (Los Angeles)

University of California - Los Angeles
76%
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More diverse than state teacher workforce

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More diverse than local community population

  • City
  • Public

% People of Color

While program completion data would provide a more accurate reflection of programs' contribution to the diversity of the teacher workforce, the government does not collect this data. And recruiting a diverse cohort of teacher candidates is a first and necessary step in the long path to a more diverse teacher force. We invite feedback, especially from teacher preparation programs, on how to better measure these critical components to help advance both the diversity and academic rigor the profession so urgently needs.

2021 National Findings

Admissions

Admissions standards in the US remain too low.

Turning back to the other side of this equation—admissions standards—we can report little progress since the last edition of the Teacher Prep Review, with most programs continuing to draw from the bottom half of the college going population.

Meaningful admissions standards are not the norm: 70% of all elementary programs set a GPA threshold that is 2.75 or lower when the average college GPA is 3.0.

Minimum GPA requirements for admission into all elementary teacher prep programs
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Diversity and Admissions:

Building a stronger, more diverse workforce

Both program diversity and selectivity warrant joint consideration because they are often viewed as incompatible. Both are essential, but many believe that having a more diverse teacher workforce requires lowering the standards for who can become a teacher. For example, since 2015, ten states have dropped tests required to enter a teacher preparation program in a publicly stated effort to increase the number of Black and Hispanic teacher candidates. They did so without replacing tests with some other proven mechanism for verifying applicants' basic skills.

Here, we dispel a myth that selectivity and diversity are incompatible. We find 198 programs in the nation that are both sufficiently selective and remarkably diverse, three times more than those that are neither selective nor diverse.

These are programs that earn either an A or B on both admissions and diversity (16% of programs) compared to programs that earn a D or F on both admissions and diversity (6% of programs).

The intersection of Program Diversity and Admissions

One of the more interesting findings among many in this study is the juxtaposition of diversity in the teacher preparation program with the broader campus where they reside. Generally speaking, the comparison is unfavorable. Only 7% of the programs enroll at least the same proportion of students of color as the institutions where they are housed. The fact that education departments consistently fail to attract an equivalent proportion of candidates of color as the college or university at large suggests that there is something about being either a teaching major or a teacher that is less attractive to Black and Hispanic college students.

If the teacher preparation programs in this study were to reflect the diversity of their institution, some 80,000 more candidates of color would enter the pipeline each year.

Why is teaching a less attractive career choice for Black and Hispanic college students? An education system marred by systemic racism cannot be overlooked.

Two factors may explain why teaching is less attractive to Black and Hispanic college students. First, students of color continue to be harmed by discrimination in the classroom, which likely creates a negative perception of K-12 education and dissuades many from wanting to become teachers. Second, Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be saddled with debt and therefore less inclined to enter a profession that does not pay as well as others.

A path forward

Beyond expanding diversity, greater selectivity helps raise the status of the teaching profession, supports the push for higher salaries, and, most importantly, provides students with access to the highest quality teachers.

While challenging, there are teacher preparation programs who are succeeding in these efforts. We reached out to these programs and dug into the research to identify common recruitment and retention strategies.

Recommendations for teacher preparation programs

For recruiting a more diverse cohort of teachers

  • Set an ambitious but achievable annual diversity goal for enrollment. (This study provides programs with one such metric to consider.) Make sure faculty 'owns' this goal.

  • Establish partnerships with diverse districts interested in operating "grow your own" programs to encourage students of color to enter the teaching profession. This can give candidates a head start by offering opportunities like career-technical education and free college-in-high-school coursework.

  • Establish partnerships with community colleges.

  • Target teaching prospects as early as possible (even high school).

  • Offer grants, scholarships, or other financial support aimed at encouraging enrollment in teacher preparation programs or to ensure persistence through graduation.

For retaining candidates of color through graduation

  • Establish mentorship programs to support teacher candidates after they have enrolled in a teacher prep program.

  • Support affinity groups or clubs for teacher candidates of color and others interested in pursuing a career in education.

  • Employ a racially diverse faculty within the school or department of education.

  • As early as possible, secure clinical placements in classrooms led by teachers of color.

For improving performance on state licensing tests

  • Encourage prospects to take their licensing tests early, even at the conclusion of high school while their knowledge of general subject areas is most likely to be fresh.

  • Conduct diagnostic testing (free of charge to the candidate) that will better guide their selection of content area coursework.

  • Identify the courses on a campus that will most likely address the general knowledge candidates will need to pass their licensing tests.

For raising admission standards

  • Establish and maintain standards that limit admissions to college students who are in the upper half of academic distribution (generally speaking a 3.0 average or above).

  • Eliminate the common perception that the teaching major represents an easy path to a college degree, making necessary changes in coursework that send the wrong signal.

  • Recognize that higher academic standards are likely to make a teaching major more attractive to many college students.

The push for greater diversity in concert with strong admissions standards will only happen program by program, institution by institution. That does not mean that states and the federal government do not have a role to play.

The federal government needs to collect demographic data from teacher preparation programs on who qualifies for a teaching license.

The federal government needs to collect data from teacher preparation programs on the number of teacher candidates by race and ethnicity who qualify for a teaching license. While the diversity of program enrollment (the data currently collected) is both relevant and important, what matters most is the rate at which candidates cross the finish line.

The lack of data transparency in the teaching pipeline is genuine cause for concern. The alarmingly high rate of teacher candidates, particularly those of color, who do not pass their licensing tests has long been swept under the rug by both states and programs. By concealing these data, programs that fail to prepare the majority of their candidates for licensure year after year face little accountability.

States need to publish more comprehensive data that expose the many challenges in the teacher pipeline. The relative success of some programs over others is a matter of public interest.

Programs leading the way

There are 59 teacher preparation programs that are currently drawing candidates from the top-half of the college-going population while also enrolling students of color at rates that exceed both the state workforce and local community. These programs prove that selectivity and diversity are achievable.

New York
Alfred University

"We work closely with the members of our Higher Education Opportunity Program office to identify or refer minority students who are considering a career in teaching. Once we have gained diverse candidates to our Educator Preparation Program, we work to provide them the various supports they need to succeed both at Alfred and in the teaching major and profession."

New York
CUNY - Brooklyn College

"We believe it is particularly important that the teacher candidates we are preparing mirror the students they will be teaching. Our initiatives focus on the continuum of recruitment, retention, graduation, and certification of a diverse teaching workforce prepared to face the challenges of educating students in the highest needs schools in our Brooklyn community."

Voices From The Field
Sharif El-Mekki

Chief Executive Officer
The Center for Black Educator Development

Amanda Aragon

Executive Director
NewMexicoKidsCAN

Bayliss Fiddiman

Associate Director for K-12 Education
Center for American Progress

Dr. Amber Thompson

Associate Chair of Teacher Education
University of Houston

Simone Hardeman-Jones

Executive Director
GreenLight Twin Cities and NCTQ Senior Visiting Fellow

Dr. Sarah Beal

Executive Director
US PREP National Center and NCTQ Senior Visiting Fellow

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the following people for review and feedback on this report. Any errors are the responsibility of NCTQ alone, and their review does not constitute endorsement.

Dr. Sarah Beal
  • Executive Director

  • US PREP National Center and NCTQ Senior Visiting Fellow

Jasmine Byrd
  • ENL Coordinator

  • NYC Department of Education

Tiffany Cain
  • Senior Policy Analyst

  • National Education Association

Eric Duncan
  • P-12 Data and Policy Senior Analyst - Educator Diversity

  • The Education Trust

Bayliss Fiddiman
  • Associate Director for K-12 Education

  • Center for American Progress

Dr. Michael Hansen
  • Senior Fellow and Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy

  • Brookings Institution

Simone Hardeman-Jones
  • Executive Director

  • GreenLight Twin Cities and NCTQ Senior Visiting Fellow

Dr. Roy Jones
  • Director, Call Me MISTER®

  • Clemson University

Dr. Robert McPherson
  • Dean & Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair, College of Education

  • University of Houston

Dr. Ann Nutter Coffman
  • Manager, Teacher Quality

  • National Education Association

Evan Stone
  • Co-Founder and Co-CEO

  • Educators for Excellence

Abigail Swisher
  • National Policy Associate

  • Educators for Excellence

Dr. Saroja Warner
  • Director for Talent Development and Diversity

  • WestEd

Randi Weingarten
  • President

  • American Federation of Teachers

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